The 17th annual Whitehall Lecture Series brings together speakers from prominent museums and universities around the country to discuss topics related to America's Gilded Age, such as architecture, history, decorative arts, and historic house museums. A reception following each lecture allows lecture-goers to meet and talk with the speaker. Tickets are $12 per lecture or $55 for the series. The series price includes a bound copy of the Whitehall Lecture Series Essays. For reservations please call the Museum at 561655 2833 or e-mail the Museum.
February 3
The Financial and Economic Character of America at the Turn-of-the-Century
John Steele Gordon
Author of many books on financial history, including The Business of America. For more than ten years, John Steele Gordon has written the widely read "The Business of America" column in American Heritage magazine. Marked by a combination of erudition, wit, and eloquence, Gordon's stories have celebrated the high points, and occasional low points, in the history of business in this country, from the colonial period to the present. The best of his mini-histories have been gathered in The Business of America. Gordon is also the author of The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power, Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt, and The Scarlet Woman of Wall Street. He can be heard on National Public Radio's Marketplace and has appeared in a number of television documentaries about American and economic history. Gordon's lecture will focus on American business at the turn-of-the-century.
February 10
Technology in the Home at the Turn-of-the-Century
Roger Moss, Executive Director, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
Besides serving as Executive Director of The Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Roger W. Moss is an Adjunct Professor of Architecture for the Historic Preservation Program of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds positions on the Boards of Directors of the British Cathedrals and Historic Churches Foundation, the Christopher Ludwick Foundation, and the Abraham Lincoln Foundation. Moss lectures extensively and is the author of numerous articles and books on historic architecture and decorating. He will discuss the technology which emerged during the turn-of-the-century and found its way into American homes of the Gilded Age.
February 17
The Wisdom of the Robber Barons
George David Smith
George David Smith, Clinical Professor of Economics and International Business, New York University. Before gaining his post as Clinical Professor of Economics and International Business at New York University's Stern School, George David Smith worked as project manager and antitrust history consultant at the Cambridge Research Institute from 1979_1981. In 1982 he was founding partner of The Winthrop Group, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts and New York, where he has been a consultant to such companies as ALCOA, General Electric Company, and Shell Oil Company. He is a research associate of the Center for Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies and has been twice named a Glucksman Faculty Fellow. His research interests include business strategy and structure, government regulation, technological development, and the evolution of financial systems. Smith will explore the topic of his latest book – the highly successful and influential business practices of the "Robber Barons" of the Gilded Age.
February 24
Newport: The Evolution of a Resort
Armin Allen
President of the Board of Trustees, Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island. Armin Allen serves as the President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Preservation Society of Newport County. He is the former Director of European Sculpture, Works of Art, and Ceramics at Sotheby's and was a leading London-based dealer in European ceramics. Allen previously served as Curator for the Preservation Society of Newport County before assuming his current position on the Board of Trustees. He has been a contributor to numerous magazines and exhibition and sale catalogs. Currently he works in real estate and serves as a specialist consultant to Phillips Auctioneers in New York. Allen will explore the birth and development of one of the best-known resorts of the Gilded Age.
March 3
Henry M. Flagler's Paintings Collection: The Taste of a Gilded Age Collector
Sandra Barghini
Chief Curator, Flagler Museum. As Chief Curator at the Flagler Museum, Sandra Barghini is responsible for the restoration and preservation of Henry Flagler's estate, Whitehall, and the care of its related collections. She previously served as Chief Curator at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California and received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to attend the American Academy in Rome in 1989.Barghini has curated numerous exhibits and written and contributed to many exhibit catalogues, including A Society of Painters: Flagler's St. Augustine Art Colony, A Young Man's Legacy: Rare Photographs of the Titanic, and A Distant Muse: Orientalist Works from the Dahesh Museum of Art. Her latest catalogue accompanies the exhibit, Henry M. Flagler's Paintings Collections: The Taste of a Gilded Age Collector, the first comprehensive look at Flagler's art collection. Barghini's lecture will explore the broad range of Flagler's taste as a typical Gilded Age collector.
